Broadcasters Want Changes on LPTV

Low-power TV broadcasters asked the FCC to relax rules for LPTV relocation, change the name of LPTV to “Local-power” and abandon plans to require translators to meet station identification requirements, said comments posted in docket 03-185 Tuesday. The LPTV Broadcasters Association said the term “low-power” is “a modern day social injustice” that stifles the service’s growth. “As we are living in the time where the term 'master bedroom' is deemed obsolete, so should the term ‘Low Power Television,’” said the filing. The Advanced Television Broadcasting Association said the agency should provide additional flexibility for stations to relocate and certainty they won’t be displaced. “The time is ripe to begin a conversation about how to provide greater certainty for LPTV operators and encourage fresh investment in the LPTV service,” said ATBA. The National Television Association opposes proposals to require translators to meet the station ID requirements that other services do. “18 years ago the Commission decided that digital translators would not be subject to a station identification requirement,” the filing said. That led to translators being constructed without that capability, NTA said. “With the proposed new requirement, translators must retrofit their transmitters, at the cost of many thousands of dollars.”